The EU joins hands with civil society and communities to clean up Kawe Beach in Tanzania

26.08.2021

The European Union in partnership with the Civil Society Forum on Climate Change (FORUMCC) organised a Beach clean-up on 26th June 2021 at Kawe Beach, Kinondoni Municipality in the city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The European Union in partnership with the Civil Society Forum on Climate Change (FORUMCC) organised a Beach clean-up on 26th June 2021 at Kawe Beach, Kinondoni Municipality in the city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Participants included EU Member States, local government authorities and community members, who came together to clean Kawe Beach as part of a six-month climate change campaign, Resilience! The campaign highlights the work being done in the partnership between the European Union and the Government of Tanzania to combat the negative impacts of climate change.

266 people got involved in the event including those in the fishing industry, beach kiosk vendors and the Girl Guide Association to name a few, to clean up over 495 kilos of waste. The four-hour clean-up which covered a total distance of 300 metres, and width of 50 metres saw 45 bags of waste collected containing items ranging from hazardous waste to toiletries and plastic bottles. Items collected that can be reused and recycled are represented in the chart below.

Pie chart

Cédric Merel, EU Head of Cooperation said, “There is an increase of 3% of marine litter each year and if serious measures aren’t taken against this situation, all the organisms in the oceans will perish including the fish”. Mr. Merel also called for communities to make sure that they always leave the beaches clean after any activities they are doing, while encouraging people to use less plastic and embrace recycling practices and technologies. This coincides with Tanzania’s policy on banning plastic bags.

The Irish Ambassador to Tanzania Mary O' Neill in her speech highlighted that Ireland is entirely aware and eager for the conservation of the beach environment, and this is done, closely guided by the EU who recognises and appreciates conservation of the environment and is responding to climate change. The Irish Ambassador also insisted that working in collaboration with Non-Governmental Organizations like FORUMCC is important and contributes to more stakeholder engagement concerning sanitation on the shores.

Climate change is affecting not only ecosystems but also socio-economic systems, and this cleaning activity marks our contribution to demonstrating and sensitizing coastal communities and marine resources beneficiaries to be part of the solution because by protecting the oceans and shorelines we save lives and livelihoods, as we all know that the ocean and coasts are among the most productive ecosystems in Tanzania,” added Sarah Ngoy, Executive Director, FORUMCC.

Stella Msofe, the District Administrative Secretary during her speech, congratulated the EU and FORUMCC for the initiative and resources for organizing and conducting a robust beach clean with a myriad group of participants. “The European Union and FORUMCC have shown a good example by bringing us here and cleaning Kawe Beach; this is indeed a wake-up call to have a culture of hygiene and to clean our beaches regularly,” insisted Ms. Msofe, while reminding everyone they should recognise environment protection as their main responsibility. Concluding her speech, the Secretary promised to provide support to the Kawe Beach community.

Another beach clean-up is scheduled to take place in Tanzania later on this year as part of the European Union climate change campaign, Resilience! Watch this space.

#EUinTZ #EUGreenDeal #PamojaTunaweza #EUBeachCleanup2021


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